Some Poetical Cats

A short time ago, I came across a small book. It was Henry Beard's Poetry For Cats. No, it's not a book with poems about cats. The title is somewhat misleading. It is, says Henry Beard, a collection of poems by cats. Even a quick glance through the book will show that the themes of the poems are those one might well suspect would be of most interest to cats: mice, rats, dogs, birds, vets .

Moreover, these are poems written by cats who have had some connection with well-known human poets. This small volume should be of interest to those scholars who love teasing out influences among writers: A influenced B who influenced C who influenced D who had no influence on anybody at anytime. A careful perusal of the poems by humans and those by cats who lived with the human poets could possibly, I think, show some similarities between them. As to the direction of the influence, whether the human poet influenced the feline poet or vice-versa, I shall leave it to the experts to figure out.


Here is a well-known poem by the human poet, Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach, when feeling out of sight
For the ends of being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need, by sun and candle-light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints. I love thee with the breath,
Smiles, tears, of all my life; and, if God choose,
I shall but love thee better after death.

Her cat had a slightly different version:

To A Vase

How do I break thee! Let me count the ways.
I break thee if thou art at any height
My paw can reach, when, smarting from some slight,
I sulk, or have one of my crazy days.
I break thee with an accidental graze
Or twitch of tail, if I should take a fright.
I break thee out of pure and simple spite
The way I broke the jar of mayonnaise.
I break thee if a bug upon thee sits.
I break thee if I'm in a playful mood,
And then I wrestle with the shiny bits.
I break thee if I do not like my food.
And if someone thy shards together fits,
I break thee once again when thou are glued.



Or one by William Carlos Williams

so much depends
upon

a red wheel
barrow

glazed with rain
water

beside the white
chickens



William's cat wrote the following:

so much depends
upon

a yellow gold
fish

washed down with bowl
water

inside the white
kitten





And one last example, one of my favorites, Robert Frost's


Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound's the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.



And Frost's poetical cat penned the following:

Sitting by the Fire on a Snowy Evening

Whose chair this is by now I know.
He's somewhere in the forest though;
He will not see me sitting here
A place I'm not supposed to go.

He really is a little queer
To leave his fire's cozy cheer
And ride out by the frozen lake
The coldest evening of the year.

To love the snow it takes a flake:
The chill that makes your footpads ache,
The drifts too high to lurk or creep,
The icicles that drip and break.

His chair is comfy, soft and deep.
But I have got an urge to leap.
And mice to catch before I sleep.
And mice to catch before I sleep.




Others in the book are "Grendel' s Dog" by an anonymous cat (trans. from Old English by the Editor's Cat)


"Brave Beocat,_____ brood-kit of Ecgthmeow,

Hearth-pet of Hrothgar_____ in whose high halls

He mauled without mercy_____ many fat mice,"




Besides the ones just quoted are cat friends of Chaucer, Donne, Blake, Milton, and of course, Shakespeare, along with many others.

If you wish to see variants of some well-known poems, perhaps some of your favorites, from a feline POV, I can recommend this book.

Henry Beard
Poetry for Cats
Villard Books, a division of Random House

Something to think about

The World Is Too Much With Us

The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The wind that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan, suckled in a creed outworn,
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn.

-- William Wordsworth

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain XXV

This quatrain completes the 1st third of the First Edition of the translation by Edward FitzGerald.

First Edition: Quatrain XXV

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd
Of the Two Worlds so learnedly, are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.



Second Edition: Quatrain XXIX

Identical to First Edition




Fifth Edition: Quatrain XXVI

Why, all the Saints and Sages who discuss'd
Of the Two Worlds so wisely--they are thrust
Like foolish Prophets forth; their Words to Scorn
Are scatter'd, and their Mouths are stopt with Dust.


This is somewhat unusual in that the First and Second Editions are the same, while the Fifth has some differences. In the past, the First and Second frequently differed while the Second and Fifth were most similar.

The only difference I can see occurs in the second line. In the First and Second editions, the Saints and Sages discussed the Two Worlds "learnedly" while in the Fifth edition, they discussed them "wisely." "[L]earnedly" has the flavor of academia or bookishness attached to it while "wisely" suggests experience grounded in reality. In either case, it makes little difference for the "learned" and the "wise" are compared to "foolish Prophets" and their words are scorned and they are silent in the grave.

It seems to me that a new theme has arisen. Previously the quatrains had pointed out that life is short and that we get once chance only, so we should make the most of it--eat, drink, and be merry for tomorrow we die. This quatrain, however, focuses on our ignorance of this world and the next. Moreover, this quatrain specifies not only our ignorance, but also the ignorance of the "Saints" and the "Sages." While their discussions are learned and wise, they are also like foolish prophets, whose words are scorned. We may know something of this world, but what do we really know of the next?

The quatrain surprisingly, to me anyway, does not believe that the religious (Saints) are any more knowledgeable than those who look more to this world than the next. This dichotomy may also be seen as the Saints being practitioners of religious values while the Sages are more imbued with worldly knowledge.

I had read that Omar Khayyam had been under suspicion of being a heretic for a time. Such dismissal of the knowledge of the afterlife would seem risky to me, considering that the Moslems have knowledge of the afterlife from the Koran, which is accepted as the actual words of Allah, transmitted faithfully and accurately by Mohammed.

Or, perhaps it's just a case of over-reading.

Any thoughts on this?

Earth Day

EARTH TEACHER

Earth teach me stillness

As the grasses are stilled with light.

Earth teach me suffering

As old stones suffer with memory.

Earth teach me humility

As blossoms are humble with beginning.

Earth teach me caring

As the mother who secures her young.

Earth teach me courage

As the tree which stands alone.

Earth teach me limitation

As the ant which crawls on the ground.

Earth teach me freedom

As the eagle which soars in the sky.

Earth teach me resignation

As the leaves die in autumn.

Earth teach me regeneration

As the seed which rises in the spring.

Earth teach me to forget myself

As melted snow forgets its life.

Earth teach me to remember kindness

As the dry fields weep in the rain.

-- Ute Prayer --

David Lindsay: A Voyage to Arcturus

Warning: I will be discussing significant plot elements and the ending.


David Lindsay's A Voyage to Arcturus is probably one of those books that many more people have heard about than have read it, that many more people have started than have finished, and, of those who finished it, many more have disliked it than have liked the work. I'm in the minority here, as I've read it at least four times, and perhaps five, and will read it again.

On the other hand, there is contrary evidence from its publishing history. According to a book review by Paul M. Kieniewicz, published by the University of Nebraska, the novel "has been in print continuously since 1920." New editions have come out in every decade since 1960. I have a hardbound edition that was published in 2002. So, the demand must be great enough to encourage publishers to come out with a new edition every decade or so.

In addition, "[i]n 1985, a three-hour play by David Wolpe based on the novel was staged in Los Angeles." The novel has had its influence in the music field also. "Jazz composer Ron Thomas recorded a concept album inspired by the novel in 2001 entitled "Scenes from a Voyage to Arcturus".

I just finished reading it for an SF discussion group, and I was one of the few who actually finished it and the only one who liked it. And, as it happened with the previous reads of this work, I picked up on some things that I had missed earlier.

It isn't an easy read, and certainly not one that can be read in short snips of time--5 or 10 minutes. The novel is best read in substantial chunks, at least one or two chapters at a time.

The Wikipedia entry for the novel begins as follows:

A Voyage to Arcturus was first "published in 1920" and "it combines fantasy, philosophy and science fiction in an exploration of the nature of good and evil and their relationship with existence. It has been described by the critic and philosopher Colin Wilson as the 'greatest novel of the twentieth century' and was a central influence on C. S. Lewis's The Space Trilogy."

I was recently told that Lewis had been quoted as saying it was the "father" of that trilogy. I'm not certain that I can agree with Colin Wilson when he calls it "greatest novel of the twentieth century," but I will say it is one of the most unique novels that I have read.

The novel begins when Maskull, the main character, meets Nightspore, a friend of his, at a seance. Nightspore has brought Krag, a stranger to Maskull, with him. Eventually Krag asks the two of them if they want an adventure, a trip to Arcturus. To be brief, they enter a vehicle owned by Krag and take off. Maskull falls asleep on the journey and awakens to find himself alone, on the planet Tormance. Krag and Nightspore are nowhere to be seen.

The novel, from this point on until the last two chapters, is a recounting of Maskull's journey among the various cultures that are found on the planet. Lindsay doesn't make the same mistake that so many SF/Fantasy writers make when they create a planet--that of creating a monoculture for the entire planet.

Maskull searches for enlightenment and truths to bring back for the rest of humanity. He sees himself as one who will enlighten people. This is exemplified by his search for the Muspell light which will lead him to Surtur. In Norse mythology, Surtr is Lord of the land of Muspellheimr, which is the land of fire and light in the Norse creation myth.

Maskull travels though a number of lands but meets only two or three people from each place. Ironically, as he goes about on his search for enlightenment, he leaves a trail of death and destruction wherever he is. He either kills someone or is indirectly responsible for that person's death. It is the most unique search for enlightenment I've ever seen.

Along with the Norse references, there is a strong Hindu flavor to this work as the gods may all be the same god but under a different guises--Surtur, Crystalman, Shaper--I'm still not too clear as to how many gods are being referred to here. This may also be true of some of the characters for, at the end of the novel, Maskull, just before he dies, is told by Krag that he, Maskull, is really Nightspore. Krag himself says that he is best known on earth as Pain. Then, in the final chapter, we learn of Nightspore's struggles to join in the struggle against Chrystalman/Shaper, on Krag's side, who now says he is Surtur.

There is also a very strong Gnostic element here, if one sees Chrystalman/Shaping as the demiurge who appropriated part of the Spiritual Life Force of the Supreme Being to populate his creation--the universe. The Shaping (in our world the Creator in the Old Testament) prevents the sparks of the life force from returning to the Supreme Being. When Maskull comes across the Wombflash River, he sees the sparks of the life force attempting to escape Tormance and return to Surtur. Crystalman/Shaping, like the creator of our world, is therefore evil and the real devil. This is the equivalent of the situation in our world for, according to the Gnostics, our world is evil, and we must take no pleasure from it for that makes our task of escaping it that much harder.

Lindsay also has a unique way of creating names for his aliens. Instead of combining vowels and consonants randomly, he takes two words and jams them together. The result is a name that almost means something and might be significant in describing the person. Maskull is a combination of "mask" and "skull." Nightspore is "night" and spore." The first two people Maskull meets are Joiwind (joy and wind) and Panawe (Pan and awe), her husband. Pan could be the god of nature and awe the emotion (fear and adoration) one feels upon meeting a god.

Maskull encounters a variety of philosophies in each of the places he visits on his search for Muspell/Surtur-- from a belief that all life is sacred and the people live on a special water and air in Poolingdred to Ifdawn, a land where Will is dominant and the inhabitants think nothing of using their will to absorb any whose will is weaker, to Sant where all pleasure is evil and pain is good because it distracts them from pleasure .

The three most prominent deities are Crytalman, Shaping, and Surtur. However, Maskull soon learns that the people differ in their ideas about the three, some think all three are separate, others that all three are the same god under different names, and yet others that any two might be the same with the third one being the enemy. Still others believe in Thire, Faceny, and Amfuse who are the creators of the worlds of existence, relation, and feeling.

Overall Rating: One of the most intriguing and absorbing novels I have read and well-worth numerous readings.

Something to think about

Abraham Lincoln's Annual Message to Congress: 1862

The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must think anew and act anew. We must disenthrall ourselves, and then we shall save our country.


Comments?

Chaucer's The Tales of Canterbury--from the Prologue

Many years ago in grad school, I had to take
a course in Chaucer.  I wasn't looking forward
to this since I had always preferred works in
which the language was transparent.  In other
words, one simply sat down and read it, and
not have to struggle with the wording also.
This was certainly not going to be the case
in this course for we were going to read the
work in Middle English.

I survived the course, and I surprisingly
felt sad as I left the classroom on the last
day of class.  I felt as though I were
leaving some special place to which I would
never return.  I had seldom felt that way
after any class I had taken.

A year later, I had to take some major exams
for which I had to review The Tales of
Canterbury.  I was going to play it smart
this time and get a modern rendering of the
work. I sat down with the translation and
found it uninteresting.  I dug out my old
textbook and happily read through it, still
struggling a bit, even so.

I had gotten the point that language is
important, even above the standard level
of proper usage.  I also found myself
more interested in poetry from then on.
There must be a connection here, somewhere.

For me, anyway, reading The Tales of Canterbury
is much like reading a time travel story. I
find that I really do go back to the late
14th century. It contains much about the
people, their customs, the way they
thought, as well as some great stories.

Following are the first 34 lines of the
prologue.  If you aren't familiar with
the language, try reading it out loud.
You may be surprised at how much more
you will understand by doing that.
Perhaps some day you might even take up
the complete work.




Geoffrey Chaucer    The Tales of Canterbury

THE PROLOGUE.

WHANNE that April with his shoures sote

The droughte of March hath perced to the rote,

And bathed every veine in swiche licour,

Of whiche vertue engendred is the flour;

Whan Zephirus eke with his sote brethe

Enspired hath in every holt and hethe

The tendre croppes, and the yonge sonne

Hath in the Ram his halfe cours yronne,

And smale foules maken melodie,

That slepen alle night with open eye, 10

So priketh hem nature in hir corages;

Than longen folk to gon on pilgrimages,

And palmeres for to seken strange strondes,

To serve halwes couthe in sondry londes;

And specially, from every shires ende

Of Englelond, to Canterbury they wende,

The holy blisful martyr for to seke,

That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seke.

Befelle, that, in that seson on a day, is

In Southwerk at the Tabard as I lay,

Redy to wenden on my pilgrimage

To Canterbury with devoute corage,

At night was come into that hostelrie

Wei nine and twenty in a compagnie

Of sondry folk, by aventure yfalle

In felawship, and pilgrimes were they alle,

That toward Canterbury wolden ride.

The chambres and the stables weren wide,

And wel we weren esed atte beste.

And shortly, whan the sonne was gon to reste,

So hadde I spoken with hem everich on,

That I was of hir felawship anon,

And made forword erly for to rise,

To take oure way ther as I you devise.

Combination Plate 13

Warning: I will be discussing significant plot elements and endings.



Edith Wharton
The Reef, a novel

The Reef is one of Edith Wharton's shorter novels and also now one of my favorite works by Wharton. I have enjoyed a number of her novels and short stories, but this one and 'Ethan Frome" are the ones that I would choose to read again if asked. I wouldn't mind rereading others, but these two are special.

The basic story of The Reef is quite simple, but the interactions of the four major characters are among the most complex that I've seen in Wharton's works. George Darrow is a member of the British diplomatic corp who, after many years of separation, has just encountered Anna Leath at a party. She is now a widow, with a daughter, Effie, and a stepson, Owen, with whom she is quite close. The fourth is Sophie Viner, formerly a social secretary to one of the women in George Darrow's circle.

In the beginning of the novel, Anna invites George to stay at her place while they decide their future together, but she puts it off for awhile and then delays it once again. Darrow is understandably upset by this. He is uncertain about what to do but decides to go to Paris (her home is in France) anyway. On the trip across the Channel, he meets Sophie Viner whom he vaguely remembers as part of the background at various house parties. She is no longer employed and is traveling to France to visit some friends and hopes to be able to stay with them while she figures out what she is to do next.

Darrow decides to show her what Paris has to offer: plays, opera, museums, restaurants. She puts off contacting her friends, and he remains in Paris for about ten days as he plays tourist guide. His leave is up and he returns to London while she plans to get in touch with her friends.

Months later, Anna Leath again writes him, finally issuing him an invitation.

Upon arrival at Anna's home, he is shocked to discover that Anna has hired Sophie Viner to be the governess for her daughter Effie. Just as he's recovering from this shock, he learns that Owen Leath, Anna's step-son, is planning to marry Sophie, against the wishes of the family matriarch, his grandmother. Anna has decided to support Owen in this family struggle and attempts to enlist George's aid.

Life becomes a series of crises and resolutions. One problem arises, and it is resolved, only to have another appear, which is soon solved, supposedly. This results in an extremely high level of tension throughout much of the work, especially after Darrow finally is allowed to visit Anna. This is something I usually don't find in her novels.

Eventually George and Sophie's prior encounter comes out, and this has an effect on Owen's feelings towards Sophie. Moreover, Anna finds she can no longer trust George, even though she loves him. She realizes that she can't tell when he is lying and when he is telling the truth.

One can see some interesting parallels in the work. The POV character in the first part is George while Anna is given that role in the second part. In the first part, both George and Anna are closely involved with young and attractive people--George with Sophie and Anna with Owen. In fact she decided to put off George's visit because she wanted to spend some more time with Owen. And, ironically, it was this brought George and Sophie together, just as her decision to hire Sophie as governess brought Owen and Sophie together. Also during the first part, George needs to meet with Sophie several times to clarify some ambiguities in their relationship, while in the second part, it's Anna who finds it necessary to meet with Sophie for clarification.

The Reef is the perfect title for this work because a reef is a hidden barrier, rock or coral, that would sink a ship that runs across it. And, so it is with this novel. Anna's letter that put off George's visit has tragic consequences for all four people.

There is a film version of this, but unfortunately it is not yet available on Netflix. Guess I'll just have to wait awhile.

Overall Rating: one of my favorite works by Edith Wharton.


========================================

The Guns of Navarone, a film
Based on the novel of the same name by Alastair MacLean


This is a World War II adventure film. The British fleet must rescue several thousand British troops from an island in the Aegean Sea. Unfortunately the only approach to the island is controlled by two huge radar-controlled German guns. To attempt a rescue with those guns operable would be suicidal. Bombardment by sea and from the air has proved ineffectual. Somebody is going to have to go there and destroy them--a j0b for the Mission Impossible Team. And as in all good caper films, a team is made up, each member having a special talent.

It's a good solid war action film, which lacks the usual superhuman stunts frequently found in such films. The problems are realistic and they survive because the Germans are human also, and not Teutonic supermen nor, and the other hand, are they the mindless dolts often found in war films. The team just barely survives a storm which destroys their boat, and they lose much of their equipment. It also becomes evident that the Germans are aware of their plans because every place they go, the Germans are there, waiting for them. The question is whether there was a spy at the British HQ where the plans were made or there is a traitor among them.

Racking up the tension level a few steps higher is the relationship between the Peck character and the Quinn character. They have a history and at the beginning of the mission, when Peck and Quinn meet, Quinn says that after the mission is completed, he will kill Peck.

What makes this film stand out is its cast: Gregory Peck, Anthony Quinn, Irene Pappas, David Niven, Richard Harris, Anthony Quayle, Stanley Baker, and Gia Scala.

Overall Rating: good solid action film, with a sufficiently satisfying and explosive ending, and a great cast, who could read the telephone book and make it worth the price of admission.

=====================================================

Malla Nunn
A Beautiful Place to Die
Mystery Novel, police procedural
South Africa

A Beautiful Place to Die is Malla Nunn's first novel and is a very good first novel. I'm looking forward to the second in the series.

The place is Jacob's Falls, a small village outside of Johannesburg, South Africa, and the time is the early 1950's, shortly after the apartheid laws were passed by the parliament. Detective inspector Emanuel Cooper has been sent from Johannesburg to Jacob's Rest, for the white captain of the local police force has died, and Cooper's job was simply to make a report to his superiors. Upon arrival though, he finds that Captain Pretorius has obviously been murdered.
Cooper is now in a difficult situation; he must investigate the murder of a police officer in a small town which, like all small towns, views outsiders with suspicion.

Cooper's job is made more difficult by the separation of the races by the newly passed laws. Fortunately Shabalala, the black constable (and probably destined, because of his color, to remain a constable forever) was a close friend of the captain, having grown up together, and proves to be an invaluable aid to Cooper whenever he had to deal with the black Africans.

Another obstacle is the presence of members of the Special Branch Section, who are little better than thugs with badges. They believe the murder was committed by communist black agitators as part of their plan to instigate a revolt against the rule of the white Afrikaners. Consequently they ignore any evidence that points elsewhere. Fortunately Cooper is ignored by them and is able to conduct his own clandestine investigation under the cover of a search for a peeping tom who has been active for several months. Constable Shabalala, since he is assisting the Special Branch investigators, manages to work with Cooper and provides information about the "official investigation" of the SB officers.

As could be predicted, Coooper's investigation reveals the many dark secrets that lurk in the closets of most of the people in Jacob's Falls, and some of those secrets are relevant, while others, of course, are embarrassing but have little to do with the ongoing investigation. Even Cooper himself, we find, has his own problems that while quiescent now could mean the end of his career.

One of the most perplexing secrets isn't revealed in this volume; all we get are a few clues about the puzzle that is Zweigman, the Jewish storekeeper. Cooper discovers that Zweigman has some medical training. As his investigation proceeds, Cooper realizes that Zweigman, in fact, is a trained surgeon. This is not simply a case of an immigrant with medical training that is not acceptable in his new home. Zweigman has been licensed to practice medicine; therefore it is his choice to run a small store in a very small town. We never do find out his story, but at the end, he has decided to take up a medical practice and is preparing to leave for Johannesburg. Since Cooper also lives and works in Johannesburg, I hope he will play a role in the next novel.

Nunn skillfully interweaves the apartheid setting into the plot, so that it isn't just something included for atmosphere but an integral part of the investigation. The apartheid laws were intended to maintain a separation among the whites and the black Africans and the Asians in South Africa, but it was too late. Cooper's investigation demonstrates just how closely the races are intertwined. While the laws were designed to keep the black Africans in their place, the laws also handicapped the whites, for they also had lost a certain freedom because of the laws.

The second book in the series, Let the Dead Lie, is due out in hardbound and trade paperback editions on April 20, 2010.

Overall Rating: The novel has a sufficiently, but not overly, complex plot and several interesting characters whom I hope will be in the second book, and I'm definitely going to read the second book.

=======================================================

Bruce Sterling
Involution Ocean, an SF novel

Moby Dick meets Dune.

This is a slender novel, barely 180 pages in length. It lacks the depth and complexity of many of Sterling's other works, Schismatrix for example, but it is a satisfying read.

The story takes place on the planet Nullaqua, which perfectly describes the planet--no water. The ocean is actually dust. With strong winds and sails, ships sail across the dust as ships on earth do on water.

John Newhouse, the POV character, is persuaded by those living in his boarding house to sign aboard a dustwhaler in order to get a supply of syncophrine. Syncophrine is a mind altering drug, highly prized for its highs, even though long usage leads inevitably to death. Syncophrine is the product of the dustwhales, who live only in the great sea of dust on Nullaquam, as spice is produced only by the great sandworms in Herbert's Dune.

Captain Desperandum of the good ship Lunglance, though no Captain Ahab, still has his obsession, which like Captain Ahab's, is bound to result in a tragedy. Deperandum's obsession is science. On board he conducts various scientific experiments that take them away from the dustwhale habitats. Moreover, his experiments frequently are dangerous and often put various members of the crew, as well as himself, at risk. Desperandum, like Ahab, is doomed by his obsession.

And, as on so many planets, things aren't what they appear to be. Humans, Newhouse discovers, aren't the only sapient creatures on the planet. Something, unknown so far to the humans, lives beneath the surface of the dust.

Newhouse also finds love aboard ship. Dalusa, an alien birdwoman, is the lookout for the ship. Their romance is mostly platonic for she is highly allergic to enzymes produced by human bodies and will break into a painful rash if touched by humans. At the end, Newhouse, like Ishmael, decides it's time to leave and goes his way the same way he arrived on Nullaqua, alone, but changed.

Overall Rating: This is Sterling's first novel, according to the Wikipedia entry, and while it isn't a complex or as well-developed as Schismatrix or some of his other works, it is an interesting and intriguing read--what appears to be a skillful blend of an 19th century classic and a 20th century SF novel.

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain XXIV

First Edition: Quatrain XXIV

Alike for those who for To-day prepare,
And those that after a To-morrow stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!"



Second Edition: Quatrain XXVII

Alike for those who for To-day prepare,
And those that after some To-morrow stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries,
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!"



Fifth Edition: Quatrain XXV

Alike for those who for To-day prepare,
And those that after some To-morrow stare,
A Muezzin from the Tower of Darkness cries
"Fools! your Reward is neither Here nor There!"


Only minimal changes appear in this quatrain. In the first edition, some stare after "a To-morrow," while in the second and fifth editions, it's after "some To-morrow" they stare. That "some" makes that "To-morrow" sound dubious at best; there's nothing definite here, whereas the "a" suggests that there is a specific "To-morrow" they have in mind.

The only other change I can find is that disappearing and reappearing comma at the end of line three. It's there in the first edition, disappears in the second edition, and shows up again in the fifth edition. Perhaps the printer left it off in the second edition. I can't see any reason for removing it. Grammatically it's defensible, though the rules for prose aren't always followed by poets.

It's a somewhat confusing quatrain if one reads it too closely. The major problem is that the poet refers to time--those who are focused on today and those who are more interested in tomorrow. Perhaps this dichotomy is between those who live for today and those who take a longer view. But the Muezzin tells that their reward is "neither Here nor There!" This suggests places, not times, and different places at that.

Could the "here" refer to this life on earth and "there" some afterlife? But then, if that's the case, then when is the reward? --for the Muezzin tells us that the reward is not in this life nor in an afterlife. Or, perhaps the Muezzin means there is no reward.

The "Tower of Darkness" is also perplexing. The Muezzin calls the Faithful to prayer five times a day. Since he is at the top of a tower, he frequently is in light when he makes his first and last calls for the sun may still be shining on him whereas most of the city may be in the dark. The three middle calls to prayer are during the day and therefore always in the light. The first stanza suggests this--


"And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultan's Turret in a Noose of Light."


The Tower of Darkness might suggest Death and the Muezzin would be, therefore, the Angel of Death. If so, then there may be no reward, either now during this life or in some hoped for afterlife. Moreover, the nature of the reward is not brought out.

Well, perhaps another reading might give me the answer.

Any thoughts?

Robert Frost: (3/26/1874--01/29/1963) For Once, Then, Something

Today is Robert Frost's birthday, so I thought I would take a look at one of his poems. "For Once, Then, Something" is one of several poems that I call his "encounter" poems. In these poems, there is an encounter or brief meeting, that one might question calling an "encounter." But, that's usual for Frost, whose simple poems become much less simple and far more ambiguous, evasive, and inconclusive the closer one looks at them.

For example, below is his poem, "For Once, Then, Something," a short, simple little poem about the narrator who once sees something which appears for a brief moment and then disappears--a poem about the transience of experience or something similar. Or, so I saw it when I first looked at it. By now, though, I've looked at it a number of times, and I'm far less certain about it than I was several decades ago when I first encountered it.


For Once, Then, Something

Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Gives me back in a shining surface picture
Me myself in the summer heaven, godlike,
Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs.
Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb
I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
Something more of the depths--and then I lost it.
Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,
Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?
Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.


Now I believe that the poem isn't quite that simple. For example, let's look at the first six lines of the poem.

"Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Gives me back in a shining surface picture
Me myself in the summer heaven, godlike,
Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs."

He just doesn't look into the well, but he looks at it in such a way that he can see only himself against the background of heaven, which makes him appear "godlike." His own reflection prevents him from seeing anything other than himself as the focal point. It is not an occasional accident, for the narrator also tells us that "[o]thers taunt him" for kneeling "[a]lways wrong" so that he can see nothing else but his own reflection. He constitutes the universe, or at least he is the most important component of the universe.



But, something happens that suggests that perhaps there is something else in the universe besides him.


"Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb
I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
Something more of the depths--and then I lost it."


He thinks he sees something "white, uncertain" which may come from the depths rather than the surface, where he customarily never goes beyond. Moreover, it is something that appears to come from beyond his reflection or even through it. This sounds almost Buddhist for a major tenet of Buddhism is that one must go deep, beyond one's ego or conscious self, to reach the True Self that lies beneath.

But, this is only a glimpse for it quickly disappears, strangely disappears if one looks closely.

"Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,
Blurred it, blotted it out. . ."


"Water came to rebuke" or reprimand the well water for allowing him this all too brief glimpse of something. And "a ripple" on the surface somehow not only shakes whatever it was he saw, but it "blurred it, blotted it out. . ." He caught a glimpse of something he shouldn't have seen, and action must be taken. What is strangest about this is that the object should have been visible again, once the surface ripples disappeared, but the narrator tells us, or rather asks us what it was, which suggests it never reappeared.



"What was that whiteness?
Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something."


It was white, but what could it have been? Melville also wonders about whiteness, for in Moby Dick, he suggests that the white whale is something more than just a whale. For the Japanese, if I'm not mistaken, white is the color of death. It's been awhile but it seems to me that in the Roman Catholic mass, all white vestments are worn by priests only on Easter Sunday, the day of the resurrection.

But, to return to the poem, the narrator suggests two possibilities--truth or a quartz pebble--certainly a strange pairing of a concept and a small physical object. It's as if the narrator equated truth and a small quartz pebble, seeing little or no difference between them. What is it that lies in wait once one gets beyond one's own reflection? Nothing that we can definitely know, the narrator seems to suggest here.

Here is the poem again. I'm curious about what you think of it. Is Frost the simple rural, bucolic regional poet that many see him as?


For Once, Then, Something

Others taunt me with having knelt at well-curbs
Always wrong to the light, so never seeing
Deeper down in the well than where the water
Gives me back in a shining surface picture
Me myself in the summer heaven, godlike,
Looking out of a wreath of fern and cloud puffs.
Once, when trying with chin against a well-curb
I discerned, as I thought, beyond the picture,
Through the picture, a something white, uncertain,
Something more of the depths--and then I lost it.
Water came to rebuke the too clear water.
One drop fell from a fern, and lo, a ripple
Shook whatever it was lay there at bottom,
Blurred it, blotted it out. What was that whiteness?
Truth? A pebble of quartz? For once, then, something.

N. Scott Momaday: The Way To Rainy Mountain

N. Scott Momaday's The Way to Rainy Mountain is a slim volume, less than 100 pages in length. It's a very unusual work, and one that has stayed with me for many years now. My first copy, a paperback edition, disintegrated in the Tucson heat, and I was forced to replace it several times, until I discovered a hardbound copy. I guess I can stop buying replacement copies now.


HEADWATERS

Noon in the intermountain plain:
There is scant telling of the marsh--
A log, hollow and weather-stained,
An insect at the mouth, and moss--
Yet waters rise against the roots,
Stand brimming to the stalks. What moves?
What moves on this archaic force
Was wild and welling at the source.


The book begins with the poem given above. Next is the "Prologue" and the "Introduction." This is followed by three sections: "The Setting Out," "The Going On," and sadly, "The Closing In." A brief epilogue concludes the work. I find it difficult to explain the attraction of the work, so I think I will just let the book talk for itself.



The Prologue begins:

The journey began one day long ago on the edge of the northern Plains. It was carried on over a course of many generations and many hundreds of miles. In the end there were many things to remember, to dwell upon and talk about.

. . .

For the Kiowas the beginning was a struggle for existence in the bleak northern mountains. It was there, they say, that they entered the world through a hollow log. The end, too, was a struggle, and it was lost. The young Plains culture of the Kiowas withered and died like grass that is burned in the prairie wind. . . But these are idle recollections, the mean and ordinary agonies of human history. The interim was a time of great adventure and nobility and fulfillment.

Prior to reading the book, I had imagined that the title referred to some sort of Edenic spot, perhaps even a mythic Garden of Eden, but Momaday in the "Introduction" soon corrected me. The first paragraph of the "Introduction" begins--

A single knoll rises out of the plain in Oklahoma, north and west of the Wichita Range. For my people, the Kiowas, it is an old landmark, and they gave it the name Rainy Mountain. The hardest weather in the world is there. Winter brings blizzards, hot tornadic winds arise in the spring, and in summer the prairie is an anvil's edge. The grass turns brittle and brown, and it cracks beneath your feet. . . Loneliness is an aspect of the land. All things in the plain are isolate; there is no confusion or objects in the eye, but one hill or one tree or one man. To look upon that landscape in the early morning, with the sun at your back, is to lose the sense of proportion. Your imagination comes to life, and this, you think, is where Creation was begun."


The three middle sections are unique in that each section consists of a number of short chapters which are two pages long, and each chapter is comprised of three passages. Each of the three passages presents a different perspective. The first passage is a myth or a legend or a tale of the Kiowa people. The second passage is a fact or an observation that relates to the myth or legend or story in some way. The third and final passage is a reminiscence by Momaday, either of his own experience or one that relates to his family, and which links up the two previous passages. The three perspectives, then, present a picture, that like a hologram, is three-dimensional and can be viewed from several points.

For example, Chapter II of the first section tells of the time the Kiowas went hunting and killed an antelope. One of the 'big chiefs" came up and claimed the udders (a delicacy) for himself. At this another "big chief" insisted on having the udders for himself. An argument ensued and one of the chiefs "gathered all of his follows together and went away." They were never heard of again.

In the second passage of Chapter II, Momaday tells us that "[t]his is one of the oldest memories of the tribe. There have been reports of a people in the Northwest who speak a language that similar to the Kiowa."

The third passage is a personal memory of Momaday's when he "remembered once having seen a frightened buck on the run, how the white rosette of its rump seemed to hang for the smallest fraction of time at the top of each frantic bound--like a succession of sunbursts against the purple hills."

And again, in Chapter III, in the first passage we learn the story of how the Kiowas first got the dog, long before the horse. In the second passage, we get a stronger sense of the importance of the dog when we learn that the "principal warrior society of the Kiowas was the Ka-itsenko, 'Real Dogs,' and it was made up of ten men only, the ten most brave" in the tribe.

In the third passage, Momaday writes

There were always dogs about my grandmother's house. Some of them were nameless and lived a life of their own. They belonged there in a sense that the word "ownership" does not include. The old people paid them scarcely any attention, but they should have been sad, I think, to see them go.

But the horse was also extremely important to the Kiowa for it gave them the freedom to move that they had never had before. In one of the last chapters of the book, we read

Once there was a man who owned a fine hunting horse. It was black and fast and afraid of nothing. When it was turned upon an enemy it charged in a straight line and struck at full speed. . .But, you know, that man knew fear. Once during a charge he turned that animal from its course. That was a bad thing. The hunting horse died of shame.

In the second passage, Momaday tells us of Gaapiatan, his grandfather, who sacrificed a fine horse as a offering in hopes that he and his family might escape a smallpox epidemic.

Momaday, in the third passage, then sums up by saying he thinks he knows what was in Gaapiatan mind--that he will give up something he values highly if his family might be spared.

As you can see, it does have a beginning, middle, and end and can be read that way, but I also open it up randomly and enjoy. One more point, interspersed throughout are stark, spare, and striking black-and-white illustrations by Momaday's father, Al Momaday.


In the epilogue, the Kiowa golden age, according to Momaday, lasted little more than 90 years. "The culture would persist for a while in decline, until about 1875, but then it would be gone, and there would be very little material evidence that it had ever been." Momaday writes that there were still a few who remembered, but he wrote this in the late 1960s, over 40 years ago. I doubt if there are any who are now still alive. Perhaps today Momaday himself is a significant resource of information for he has known some who had direct experience of the Kiowa culture in its last days.

The book concludes with the following poem:


RAINY MOUNTAIN CEMETERY

Most is your name of this dark stone.
Deranged in death, the mind to be inheres
Forever in the nominal unknown,
The wake of nothing audible he hears
Who listens here and now to hear your name.

The early sun, red as a hunter's moon,
Runs in the plain. The mountain burns and shines;
And silence is the long approach of noon
Upon the shadow that your name defines--
And death this cold, black density of stone.


The Way to Rainy Mountain is a remarkable book, but the only way to experience it is to read it. I hope some will sit down and take it up some time. It's well worth the hour or so.

Ursula Le Guin: The Left Hand of Darkness

Ursula Le Guin's The Left Hand of Darkness is a difficult novel to write about, for me anyway. It's one of my top ten favorite SF novels and definitely has my vote for being one of the ten best SF novels ever written. The problem is that I get drawn so deeply into the novel that I find it difficult to stand back and take an analytical look at it.

The title comes from the saying in the book: "The left hand of darkness, the right hand of light." The book does come with a Taoist and Zen background, even to the point that Genly Ai, the POV character, refers to the Yin-Yang symbol when speaking of the people of Gethen. However, knowledge of Taoism and Zen is not necessary for appreciation of the novel.

The story is set on the planet Winter, Gethen as it is called by its inhabitants. Winter is an appropriate name since the planet is in the midst of a glacial period. While this does play an important role in the story, the novel is far more than a simple tale of survival under harsh conditions. The real focus of the novel is the people of Gethen and the question Le Guin asks--what is the effect of gender and constant sexual readiness on the individual and the culture. She asks this by positing a people that do not have a permanent, fixed gender and who are not in a state of readiness for sexual activity.

The people of Gethen are almost completely identical to us and would not be noticed if they were walking down any street or road on earth. There are, though, two significant differences between us and the Gethens. The Gethens are effectively sexually neuter for most of their lives. They show no sexual characteristics and have no interest in sex during this period.

The Gethens have roughly a 26 day cycle: for around 22-3 days they are effectively asexual. Sometime around the 22nd day they begin to undergo changes which will result in becoming a sexual being--either male or female--for about 2-3 days. During this period, kemmer, they develop a strong sex drive, and it becomes very uncomfortable for those who do not engage in sexual activity at this time. Therefore, all Gethenian have a two-three day holiday at this time. No one is expected to be able to function effectively and so all are free at that time.

The significant effect of this is that the average Gethenians therefore have no real sense of being male or female as we do. They are just people and treat each other as such. This has repercussions in behavior, possibly even threatening to non-Gethenians.

As one non-Gethenian observer writes in a report:

The First Mobile [first ambassador] , if one is sent, must be warned that unless he is very self-assured, or senile, his pride will suffer. A man wants his virility regarded, a woman wants her femininity appreciated, however indirect and subtle the indications of regard and appreciation. On Winter they will not exist. One is respected and judged only as a human being. It is an appalling experience.

This limited and strong period of sexual arousal in the Gethenians has resulted in the establishment of kemmer houses in most towns and cities. It is a place where one can go if one is entering kemmer and find others who are also entering kemmer at the same time. Two in kemmer, therefore, meet in a kemmer house and pair off. Usually one is a few hours ahead of the other, so when that person begins to become a male or female, the other person becomes the opposite sex. If the first one starts to become a female, the other will become a male, or a female if the first one becomes a male. If the female becomes pregnant, "she" will remain female until the child is weaned, and she then reverts to being asexual. The "mother," then, during her next kemmer period may just as easily become a male or a female.


The Story:

Genly Ai is the representative of the Ekumen, a loose association of planets, which functions not so much as a galactic government but as sort of a clearing house. His task is to persuade the Gethenians to join the Ekumen. He is sent to live alone on the planet for it is the belief of the Ekumen that total immersion is the best way to develop an understanding of the prevailing culture. Essentially his job is to explain the Ekumen to the Gethenians and eventually the Gethenians to the Ekumen.

Joining the Ekumen opens the planet up to trade with other members, but not trade in the usual sense--but trade in ideas, information, culture, literature, poetry, music. Instantaneous FTL travel is not possible in Le Guin's universe. Einstein still holds true. If Genley Ai returns to the closest Ekumen planet to Gethen he will find that 34 years have passed since he left, in addition to the years has spent on Gethen. Trade is anything, therefore, that can be transmitted by ansible, a "radio" that can transmit messages at FTL speeds.


Gethen has two countries and two quite different cultures. Ai has been set down in Karhide, which has a monarchy that loosely governs the country (one of the Gethenians calls it more of a family quarrel than an effective government), and Orgoreyn, which is becoming a bureaucratic state that is developing a tight control over its population.

Ai's task is to develop an understanding of the Gethenian culture, and this task, difficult as it is, is magnified by the problems he has in dealing with individual Gethenians. Intellectually he knows that these individuals are not male or female, but perhaps neither? both? However, since Estraven, a powerful, influential member of the king's council. appears to be male, Ai treats him as a male and is confused when Estraven acts out of character. This prevents Ai from completely trusting Estraven and this issue is only resolved during the latter part of the novel when the two are thrown together for a long period.

Estraven, on the other hand, fails to completely realize that Ai is an alien and he, therefore, takes for granted that Ai understands his actions. Again, it is only later that Estraven begins to really understand that Ai does not completely grasp the underlying rationale behind his behavior.

Initially, Ai is befriended by and his mission taken up by Estraven. However, power politics are the same, regardless of gender or lack thereof, and Estraven is maneuvered out of power and forced to go into exile in Orgoreyn. Eventually Ai, too, is forced to leave for Orgoreyn, for the king does not see him as an envoy from an extra-planetary organization but as some sort of pervert who is part of a plot to overthrow him.

This is all set against major changes in the cultures of Karhide and Orgoreyn. War is unknown on Gethen. There is individual violence and occasionally raids by small groups, but organized warfare as we know it on earth is unknown, up to this point anyway. Orgoreyn is in the process of developing strong controls over its citizenry. In Karhide, one of the king's council has discovered the concepts of patriotism and nationalism and is busy promulgating them during his weekly radio broadcasts. Both trends can be seen as making it possible to activate large numbers of people, something which eventually could lead to the formation of armies and, therefore, war. And there is and has been a long-running border dispute between the two countries, a situation that is ready-made for a war.

What happens to Ai and Estraven in Orgoreyn then takes up the second part of the novel, which leads to the resolution of Ai's main problem--getting an agreement on a treaty with the Ekumen. And, as always, there is a price to be paid.

Le Guin doesn't give us the story as a typical chronological narrative. Much of it is told from Ai's POV, but interspersed are notes from Estraven's diary giving us his/her (English lacks a pronoun here and "it" just doesn't fit) view of Ai and some information about what is happening and why, at least from Estraven's POV. In addition are various tales, myths, legends, and stories that give the reader bits and pieces of Karhidish society, a far more entertaining method of filling in the background than straight narrative lecturing.

Overall Rating: perhaps the best way is to say that this is the novel I always mention when someone asks me to recommend "a good SF novel for someone who doesn't read SF." Each time I read it, I always end up thinking that this is what SF could be and should be, but too seldom is.

Saint Patrick's Day: Traditional Irish Blessing

May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back

The sun shine warm upon your face
The rains fall soft upon your fields

And until we meet again,
May God hold you in the hollow of his hand

A Thought

Do not be idolatrous about or bound to any doctrine, theory, or ideology, even Buddhist ones. Buddhist systems of thought are guiding means; they are not absolute truth.
-- Vietnamese Buddhist Precept--

This just jumped off the page at me today. I wonder why.

All sorts of headlines kept flashing before my eyes.

If this were the prevailing philosophy instead of being ignored by most, what would the world be like today?

I wonder if this ever could become generally accepted.

Combination Plate 12

Brief commentary on various films and books:


The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, a film

This film is apparently based on a "graphic novel," or a comic book for those who don't read them. I don't read them. Friends who do read them, after hearing that I had seen the film, rushed to reassure me that all films based on "graphic novels" aren't this bad.

Having seen others which I did enjoy I assured them that I was aware that there were good films out there, even if they were based on comic books.

I thought the film was a waste of time and money: the motto of the powers-that-be must be something similar to "Millions for Special Effects: Not one cent for plot or story or character development."

It is a shame because the concept has considerable potential: take a group of extraordinary 19th century fictional characters and treat them as if they were superheroes gathered together to fight a monstrous threat to civilization. The cast of characters is fascinating:

Robert Louis Stevenson's Dr Jekyll and his evil alter ego, Mr Hyde;
Oscar Wilde's Dorian Gray, whose portrait aged while he remained young;
H. Rider Haggard's Allan Quartermain, adventurer and Great White Hunter;
Jules Verne's Captain Nemo, inventor and captain of the Nautilus, the world's first submarine;
H. G. Well's the Invisible Man, or actually a thief who stole the formula; and
Bram Stoker's Mina Harker (now a vampire).

Also included in the League is Mark Twain's Tom Sawyer, who sort of barges in without an invitation, much as the young would-be samurai tags along with the hired samurai in Kurosawa's The Seven Samurai. Hmmm, there are eight in the League, if one counts Jekyll and Hyde separately

I wondered at times whether the creators had actually read of the literary works from which these characters were drawn, especially when viewing what the special effects types came up with for Mr. Hyde. Now, in the novel, he is described as ugly, but in the film he was bizarre-- resembling someone who didn't just use steroids, but had them for breakfast, lunch, and supper.

Captain Nemo's submarine, Nautilus, is equally bizarre, distorted beyond any rational idea of what a submarine might resemble, even for a 19th century submersible. It is so distorted that it looks top-heavy and incredibly narrow, at least to me anyway.

And what is Tom Sawyer doing here? He supposedly is some sort of government agent, whose talent seems to be handling a six-gun. I wondered why they didn't select one of the heroes of the dime westerns that were popular around that time.

Early in the film, I was puzzled as to why one of the greatest fictional characters of all time, and one whose intellectual abilities would have been incredibly useful in dealing with a master criminal, was missing. I mean Sherlock Holmes, who definitely belongs in any League of Extraordinary Gentlemen from the 19th century. The answer was obvious once the identity of the master criminal is revealed--Professor Moriarty! Holmes would have identified him immediately, so Holmes couldn't be included, if Moriarty's identity is to be kept secret, for awhile anyway.

The plot is absurd and inane: Moriarty, in disguise as a government agent, gathers the superheroes together to fight a supposed threat to civilization. In reality, he just wanted to get them together so he could take samples from them and create a serum that would turn any group of ordinary people into an invincible army. However, once his plot is revealed, they then became a real League in order to fight him. This makes no sense because it would have been far simpler and safer for Moriarty to collect his samples individually, with no reason for getting them together in the same room.

Overall Rating: a waste of everybody's time and money-- that belonging to the cast and crew and backers of the film and the audience. There is no real attempt to develop the characters-- they were there to display their "talents" in the most simplistic and rudimentary manner. The real stars of the film are the makeup and special effects crews.

=============================

Michael Gregorio
A Critique of Criminal Reason
Historical Mystery, set in Konigsburg, Prussia, 1804
Hanno Stiffeniis: A judicial detective

Hanno Stiffeniis left Konigsburg to take a position as procurator, or an investigating magistrate, in a small town. However, he is called back when Konigsburg is terrorized by a series of inexplicable murders. No one can figure out how victims died. Some think the devil is involved while others blame French agents for the crimes, hoping to terrify the populace before Napoleon's army invades. Konigsburg's procurator is stumped, and Stiffeniis is called in to aid him. However, when the procurator becomes ill and incapacitated, Stiffeniis must take over.

The title is a play on a famous and real work by the city's most famous citizen, Immanuel Kant, whose Critique of Pure Reason was published a decade or so ago. The aging philosopher has his own ideas about how to solve the murders, and he begins to instruct Stiffeniis accordingly in his system--a combination of criminal psychology and the scientific method. Kant had met Stiffeniis years ago and was impressed by his mental flexibility and willingness to break away from tradition. In fact, it was Kant who persuaded the royal court to bring Stiffeniis back.

Gregorio's depiction of the times and place are among the many strengths of the novel. Since I know little about the real Kant's life, I can't comment on whether this is Kant or Gregorio's invention. In any case, the depiction of the Kant character is fascinating as he faces his own impending death. Hanno Stiffeniis is a complex character in his own right, as he struggles with his devotion to truth among the complexities of his time, especially with an invading army not far off.

If you like stories with a strong development of time and place, such as found in the mysteries with Steven Saylor's Gordianus the Finder and CJ Sansom's Matthew Shardlake, then this series is for you.

I'm eagerly waiting for the second, Days of Atonement, and the third, A Visible Darkness, in the series to become available.

Overall rating: highly recommended, 5/5 stars.

======================================

Robert Holdstock
Mythago Wood
An SF novel


Holdstock's Mythago Wood is a fantasy, and a rather unique fantasy. It doesn't fit in with the typical fantasies that crowd bookshelves today--those that are based on the Arthurian or the Tolkien modes. It is unique.

Mythago Wood is an ancient, mysterious, and mostly unexplored forest somewhere in England. One of its many unique characteristics is that it is larger, far larger, incredibly larger on the inside than it appears to be from the outside. One might almost think of Doctor Who's Tardis here.

Another of its stranger characteristics or powers is the generation of imagos. The name of the wood appears to be a combination of "myth" and "imago." One might think about "monsters from the id" here. Mental constructs come alive in the forest and eventually take on a life of their own. A thief who robs the rich (who else has money?) and occasionally shares it with the poor, becomes a legendary character over the centuries and comes alive in Mythago Wood.

Or one may create a dream lover, and if one lives close to the Wood, such as the Huxley family does, an imago of that dream lover comes alive. Mythago Wood is on their land, at least as far as official records show. But, the official records take no note of what can be found in that small primeval wood.

The story has some Freudian overtones to it. The father, George Huxley (George Orwell and Aldous Huxley?), has explored the Wood for decades. Over the years, he, consciously or unconsciously, creates several imagoes. One is a beautiful young woman. After his death, his sons, Christian and Steven, both become obsessed with the young woman (a combination of the Oedipal complex and sibling rivalry?). Along with Freud, one can see Biblical influences in the struggle between the brothers--Cain and Abel, Ishmael and Isaac, and Esau and Jacob--to gain the father's approval or at least control the father's heritage.

There are several stories set in Mythago Wood, but from what I gather, each story is unique, similar only in the location.

Overall Rating: 4/5 stars

====================================
Fred Vargas
The Chalk Circle Man
A mystery set in contemporary Paris, France
Commissaire Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg--a police procedural

This is the first novel in a series that includes 8 novels, as of 2008. In this work, Commissaire Adamsberg has just arrived in Paris to take over as chief of police in the 7th Arrondissment. He has gained a reputation for solving insolvable crimes out in the provinces, so all are interested to see how well he does in Paris.

It's been quiet since he arrived, except for the chalk circles. Many mornings the citizens of Paris awaken to find that someone has drawn a chalk circle around a discarded object. It could be a dead pigeon, an empty wine bottle, a gum wrapper, or a crumpled-up piece of paper. There's no pattern that anyone can see. It is dismissed as the work of a harmless crackpot by everyone, except Commissaire Adamsberg, who sees something ominous here. And, eventually, he's vindicated, as, one morning, the body of a dead woman is found inside the chalk circle.

Did the drawer of the chalk circles kill her or did drawer just happen to find the body?

One of the most interesting elements in the novel is Vargas' depiction of Commissaire Adamsberg and some of the other characters encountered in the investigation. To be honest, I almost feel sorry for the police in this novel, for they end up playing "straight men" to the very quirky Adamsberg and numerous inhabitants of the 7th.

Overall Rating: highly recommended, 5/5 stars.

The Rubaiyat: Quatrain XXIII

Quatrain XXIII is the third and final quatrain in what I consider to be a linked series that includes Quatrains XXI and XXII.


First Edition: Quatrain XXIII

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend.
Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and--sans End.


Second Edition: Quatrain XXVI

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie,
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and--sans End!



Fifth Edition: Quatrain XXIV

Ah, make the most of what we yet may spend,
Before we too into the Dust descend;
Dust into Dust, and under Dust to lie
Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and--sans End!


The only changes I can detect involve punctuation. In the First Edition, the period at the end of the second line becomes and remains a semi-colon in the Second and Fifth Editions. The comma at the end of the third line in the First and Second Editions has disappeared by the Fifth Edition. The period at the end of the fourth line in the First Edition changes to an exclamation point in the Second and Fifth Editions. These changes may signal a subtle change in meaning, but, except for the substitution of the exclamation point to denote intensity, I don't really see it.

As I mentioned above, I see this as the final quatrain in a linked series. In Quatrain XXI, the poet points out that even "the loveliest and the best" have gone on before us. In Quatrain XXII, we are told that "Ourselves must we beneath the couch of Earth/ Descend, ourselves to make a Couch. . ." In other words, all must die.

In the final quatrain in the "series," Quatrain XXIII, the poet then urges us to use what little time we have "Before we too into the Dust descend;/Dust into Dust, and under Dust, to lie. . .", a clear reference to Genesis 3, 19, the King James Version.

In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.


One minor difference, of course, is that the Biblical verse refers to sweat and bread and makes no mention of wine or song or singers.

The last line, Sans Wine, sans Song, sans Singer, and -- sans End, is frequently quoted and often paraphrased to suit the authors' point. It, also, is a reference to another Biblical injunction, this one from Ecclesiastes Chapter 8, 15:

Then I commended mirth, because a man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry: for that shall abide with him of his labour the days of his life, which God giveth him under the sun.


One other point about the last line is that it is frequently paraphrased as "wine, women, and song," presumably the most significant ingredients of a life of pleasure. FitzGerald, though, expands his appeal to all members of his readership by referring to an ambiguous "Singer."

The last phrase--Sans End-- repeats a common theme in FitzGerald's version of The Rubaiyat, that death is eternal. There is no end to it, and in later quatrains, he will point out that no one returns from death.

This quatrain then echoes earlier quatrains by reminding us to "make the most" of what time remains because once we die, we will be without wine, without song, and without singers. What comes then will be endless.

Michael Shea: Nifft the Lean, Pt. 2

See previous post for introduction and discussion of the First Adventure.

Warning: I will discuss significant events and endings.


Second Adventure:

"The Pearls of the Vampire Queen"

In his usual pedantic and fussy manner, Shag Margold tells us that this tale came to him from Ellen Errin (also known as Greymalkin Mary), Nifft's long time friend and lover. At the end of the introduction, Margold poses an ethical question that has long bothered him: is the rule of the Vulvula, the Vampire Queen worse than that of the Hipparch, the cruel ruler of Gelidor, whose main export is weapons of war, and who is also suspected of fomenting conflicts. Or, to put it Margold's words: "Who drinks more blood--the Hipparch or Queen Vulvula?"

Briefly, Nifft and Barnar are broke. They decide to improve their financial status by favoring the country of Fregor Ingens with a visit. Fregor Ingens is the only known source of the rare black pearls, much favored by the rich and powerful, and they decide to do a little free-lance pearl diving of their own. The pearl trade, of course, is strictly controlled by the government, so their first concern is to avoid being spotted. Diving for the pearls is usually handled by a team of three people. Two are needed to grab the tentacles of the plant (it's a flesh-eater, naturally), and third to grab pearls. However, two can do it if one is extremely strong (Barnar) and one extremely fast and nimble (Nifft). The thought of hiring on as legitimate pearl divers never occurs to Nifft and Barnar.

The work is hard and dangerous, and their hoard grows slowly. On learning of the festival that's being held in the capital city, Nifft decides that there's an easier way of becoming rich, although it's even more dangerous. The festival is the annual festival of renewal for the Queen. For one year, a young male is given all that he desired. Whatever he wanted, he was given. At the end of his year's "reign," the Queen would drain him of all of his blood. This will restore her strength and her youth and allow her to live another year, slowly aging, until the next festival.

This is reminiscent of certain spring festivals held many centuries ago here on Earth in which certain individuals were treated "royally" for a specified length of time, frequently a year, and then sacrificed to the gods to ensure a good harvest. It's also a reminder of the old tradition that the ruler was identified with the land and the land with the ruler. A healthy ruler insured a healthy land. In the Arthurian Quest for the Holy Grail, Percival encounters a wounded king whose affliction mirrors his kingdom, which has been described in some accounts as the Wasteland.

There was a condition though: she needed to drain every last drop of his blood, or the restoration would not be complete. At the next festival, therefore, she would again be restored, but she would have aged a bit that corresponded to the amount of his blood that she didn't consume. Nifft's plan was simple: steal a cup of blood and hold it for ransom.

It all works out as planned, except for one minor detail. They decide to make their escape on the back of a basilicus, a flying beast that is too stupid to be considered a true demon, but it is controllable. It was commonly thought to be the fastest flying critter on the planet, but Nifft and Barnar soon discovered "that there is something faster than a basilicus." They never learned its name, but its description sounded like a gigantic praying mantis to me. While it cost them part of the ransom, this turned out to be a highly successful trip.


Third Adventure:

"The Fishing of the Demon-Sea"

According to Shag Morgold, this tale is told by Nifft himself, in his own hand. Margold provides the reader with a brief history of Kairnheim, the location of this adventure.

Nifft and Barnar have arrived in Kine Gather, a city in Karnheim, with thoughts of improving their financial status. Before they get a chance to do much more than look over the town, they are arrested and found guilty of thievery when "evidence" is found that proves they have committed at least one theft. Seconds before they are to be executed, a herald bursts onto the scene ordering them to halt the execution. Nifft immediately recognizes the situation. They were set up in order to persuade them to undertake a perilous task, one so dangerous that only those facing imminent death would agree to it.

The son of one of the most powerful men in Kine Gather has been kidnapped by a demon. Actually it's his fault. He's a perfect example of the oft-quoted line--"a little learning is a dangerous thing"--especially when accompanied by stupidity and an irrational belief in one's superior powers and in one's immortality. Such is Wimfort, the son of Rod-Master Kamin. Unfortunately, he managed to correctly perform a summoning spell for demons, but, even more unfortunately, he didn't do as well with the spell of protection. Wimfort summoned the demon, who promptly grabbed him and returned home, to the Demon-Sea.

Nifft and Barnar's task is easy: go down to the Demon-Sea and rescue the Rod-Master's son. To prevent them from just taking off for parts unknown when given the chance, a magic spell is placed on them that causes pain even when only thinking of doing anything but rescuing the Rod-Master's pride and joy.

After numerous painful and bloody encounters they finally manage to rescue Kamin's P and J. Wimfort's gratitude is overwhelming:

" 'My father sent you . . .' echoed the boy. I [Nifft] was getting alarmed--his stare was so wide. 'Three months here!' he groaned. 'Three months. And my father sent you. He waited two months, and then sent a pair of baboons on foot who took another two months to get here!' His voice was rising to a howl as uncontrolled as his arithmetic was getting. "A good wizard could have had me out in a day! That dung-heap! That greedy, stingy dung-heap! THREE MONTHS!'"

The trip back was worse than the trip there. In addition to the other dangers, they now had to protect Wimfort who seemed determined to kill himself and his rescuers. It wasn't long before I decided that he should have been left there as he provides strong evidence in support of Robert A. Heinlein's theory of child raising. According to RAH, the child, after birth, should be placed in a barrel and fed through the bunghole. Once it reaches puberty, close the bunghole.




Fourth and Final Adventure:

"The Goddess in Glass"

This tale is quite different from the first three. Nifft appears to be a bystander, although he has worked himself into becoming a member of the priestess's inner circle of advisers. What he does behind the scenes, if anything, can only be guessed at.

Shag Margold had asked Nifft if he would stop at Anvil Pastures, a city whose main export is weaponry, to get some information about its chief religious cult. The divinity appears to be dead, but it is known to somehow transmit information to its priestess or oracle. Margold is doing a treatise on this cult and lacks certain information.

Nifft agrees and travels to Anvil Pastures, which he finds in turmoil. Months ago, the goddess/ alien? who may be dead or hibernating, asked, through the priestess/oracle, Dame Lybis, that the town gather up a herd of certain animals which had recently emerged from underground and bring them to the vicinity of the town. As Nifft soon learns, the town generally responds to such requests only if there's a profit to be made. As this would be expensive and unprofitable, the town's leaders ignored the request.

Shortly afterwards, the goddess provided information about a source of ore for weapons that was unknown to the town at this time. This time the leaders listened, and the ore was found to be a superior material for weapons. Prosperity was at hand. Months later, however, mining of the nearby mountain range had caused a shifting of large quantities of rock, much of which was now poised to come crashing down on the town. An appeal to the goddess produced a solution: bring the herd of animals from its present location to the town, as it had requested months ago.

The townspeople did and then went to the goddess. The oracle brought the following message: the goddess was pleased, but now a new problem had occurred, for which the goddess had a solution. The townspeople had no choice but to comply. This pattern repeats--as each problem is solved, a new one appears. At one point, the herd of animals that the goddess wanted brought to the vicinity became a threat to the town. They were lithovores--rock eaters--and were working their way towards town. The goddess suggested that all the gold in town be melted down into sheets and placed against a ridge that was between the lithovores and the town. Lithovores didn't eat gold. Hmmmm...

Frankly this sounds a lot like a scam to me, especially since Nifft is now one of Dame Lybis' advisors, or perhaps there's a closer, more intimate relationship?

The resolution soon becomes obvious: the townspeople are going to be punished for their sins. Of course, it isn't clear as to which sins in particular they are being punished for, but their punishment is inevitable.

I had read this book many years ago, so long ago I can't remember why, for I normally don't read this type. However, it stayed with me, and I decided to read it again. It was only during the second reading that I began to see just what Shea has worked into his stories. And, I suspect I've picked up only a few of the echoes of literature and ancient traditions that are present.


Overall Rating: Highly recommended.


I forgot to mention that Michael Shea went on to write two novels featuring Nifft the Lean.

The second book in the series is The Mines of Behemoth, again with Barnar Hammer-Hand. The third is A'rak. Barnar isn't in this one.

I haven't read either of them, but I do have both in my long queue. I think I'll move them up a bit.